The Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 1998

PART I General

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 27th August 1998.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to schools in England.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires—

“the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996;

“assessment” in relation to a maintained school means assessment pursuant to orders made under section 356 of the 1996 Act(1) and “level” shall be construed in accordance with the provisions of such orders and in relation to a CTC means assessment pursuant to an agreement with the Secretary of State made under section 482 of the 1996 Act;

“assessment term” means the term in which assessment is completed;

“attainment targets” has the meaning given by section 353 of the 1996 Act;

“authority”, in relation to a school maintained by a local education authority, means that authority and, in relation to a grant-maintained or grant-maintained special school, a non-maintained special school or an independent school, means the local education authority in whose area the school is situated;

“CTC” means city technology college and city college for the technology of the arts;

“core subject” means any of the following subjects, English, mathematics or science;

“GCE ‘A’ level examinations” and “GCE ‘AS’ examinations” mean General Certificate of Education advanced level examinations and General Certificate of Education advanced supplementary examinations respectively;

“GCSE” means General Certificate of Education;

“GNVQ” means a General National Vocational Qualification;

“maintained school” means—

(a)

any county or voluntary school;

(b)

any special school maintained by an authority which is not established in a hospital;

(c)

any grant-maintained school or grant-maintained special school which is not established in a hospital,

but excludes any nursery school;

“middle deemed secondary school” means a middle school deemed to be a secondary school by virtue of the Education (Middle Schools) Regulations 1980(2);

“NC tests” means National Curriculum tests administered to pupils for the purpose of assessing the level of attainment which they have achieved in any core subject being tests laid down in provisions made by the Secretary of State under the appropriate order made under section 356 of the 1996 Act in force when those tests were administered(3);

“non-maintained special school” means a special school which is neither maintained by an authority nor a grant-maintained special school;

“public examination” means a public examination which is for the time being prescribed by regulations made under section 453 of the 1996 Act(4);

“reporting school year” means the school year immediately preceding the school year in which information provided to the Secretary of State under these Regulations is to be published by him or, as the case may be, local education authorities;

“special educational needs” has the meaning given by section 312(1) of the 1996 Act;

“special school” has the meaning given by section 337 of the 1996 Act;

“unauthorised absence” means an occasion on which a pupil is recorded as absent without authority pursuant to the Education (Pupils Registration Regulations) 1995(5) and “authorised absence” shall be construed accordingly; and

“unit”, in relation to a vocational qualification, means a module or part of a course leading to that qualification which, when successfully completed, can be counted together with other modules or parts towards obtaining that qualification.

(2) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires—

(a) references to pupils of a particular age are to pupils who attained that age during the period of twelve months ending on the 31st August immediately preceding the commencement of the reporting school year and who were registered pupils at the school on the third Thursday in January in the reporting school year;

(b) references to examinations for which pupils at the school were entered include examinations for which they were entered otherwise than in pursuance of section 402 of the 1996 Act;

(c) references to key stages are references to the periods set out in section 355(1) of the 1996 Act; and

(d) references to a school maintained by an authority or to a grant-maintained special school do not include such a school which is established in a hospital.

(3) Particulars to which these Regulations apply may be made available in the form of data from which the particulars are capable of being extracted by computer.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations any examination for the GCSE for which a pupil aged 15 was entered during a previous school year shall be treated as such an examination for which the pupil was entered during the reporting school year.

(5) Information relating to authorised or unauthorised absences shall not include any information relating to any period after the Friday before the last Monday in May in the reporting school year.

(6) In calculating the number of GCE ‘A’ level examinations for which a pupil was entered, a GCE ‘AS’ examination shall be treated as the equivalent of half a GCE ‘A’ level examination.

(7) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations and any reference in a regulation or Schedule to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph in that regulation or Schedule bearing that number.

Qualification of duties

3.  The duties imposed on governing bodies, authorities and proprietors by virtue of these Regulations in respect of the making available, provision or publication of information apply only to the extent that that information is available to the governing body, authority or proprietor in time for it to be reasonably practicable to make available, provide or publish the information before the latest occasion on which the information is required to be made available, provided or published, as the case may be.

Revocations and savings

4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 1996(6), the Education (School Performance Information) (England) (Amend ment) Regulations 1997(7), the Education (School Performance Information) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1997(8) and the Education (School Performance Information) (England) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 1997(9) are hereby revoked.

(2) The revocation of the Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 1996 shall not relieve any person of any duty under those Regulations to make available, provide or publish information which has not been performed before the date that these Regulations come into force.

PART II PROVISION OF INFORMATION BY HEAD TEACHER

Provision of information by head teacher to governing body

5.  The head teacher of every maintained school shall each year make available to the governing body information about the matters mentioned in Schedules 1, 2 and 3, for the purpose of enabling the governing body to comply with their obligations under these Regulations in respect of those matters.

PART III PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE

Provision of assessment results to the Secretary of State

6.—(1) The governing body of every school maintained by an authority which, in the assessment term of the reporting school year, has registered pupils who are at or near the end of the final year of the first key stage, shall each year, by the end of that term, provide to the authority the information relating to assessment referred to in Part I of Schedule 1.

(2) Every authority which, pursuant to paragraph (1), receives information from schools which it maintains shall, on or before the next following 31st July, provide to the Secretary of State that information for each such school.

(3) The governing body of every grant-maintained or grant-maintained special school which, in the assessment term of the reporting school year, has registered pupils who are at or near the end of the final year of the first key stage, shall each year, on or before 15th July, provide to the Secretary of State the information relating to assessment referred to in Part I of Schedule 1.

(4) The governing body of every maintained school which, in the assessment term of the reporting school year, has registered pupils who are at or near the end of the final year of the second key stage, shall, each year, on or before 11th July, provide to the Secretary of State the information relating to assessment referred to in Part II of Schedule 1.

(5) The governing body of every maintained school and the proprietor of every CTC which, in the assessment term of the reporting school year, has registered pupils who are at or near the end of the final year of the third key stage, or in the case of a CTC has registered pupils aged 14, shall each year, on or before 11th July, provide to the Secretary of State the information relating to assessment referred to in Part III of Schedule 1.

Additional provision of information about second key stage assessment results to the Secretary of State

7.  The governing body of every county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary or middle deemed secondary school shall, within two weeks of receiving a written request from the Secretary of State, provide him with the information about the school for the reporting school year referred to in Schedule 2.

Provision of results of school examinations and of courses leading towards vocational qualifications to the Secretary of State

8.  The governing body of every maintained school and the proprietor of every non-maintained special school or independent school with pupils aged 15, 16, 17 or 18 shall, within two weeks of receiving a written request from the Secretary of State, make available to him such particulars relating to public examinations and courses leading to vocational qualifications or units for which registered pupils at the school were entered, and such other information as are referred to—

(a) in the case of a school providing information in respect of pupils aged 15, in Part I of Schedule 3;

(b) in the case of a school providing information in respect of pupils aged 16, 17 or 18, in Part II of Schedule 3.

Provision of information about authorised and unauthorised absence to the Secretary of State

9.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), the governing body of every school maintained by an authority shall make available to that authority information for the reporting school year about the matters referred to in Schedule 4, for the purpose of enabling the authority to comply with its obligations under paragraph (2).

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), every authority, in respect of each school which it maintains, the governing body of every grant-maintained and grant-maintained special school and the proprietor of every independent school and non-maintained special school shall, within two weeks of receiving a written request from the Secretary of State, provide him with information for the reporting school year about the matters referred to in Schedule 4.

(3) This regulation does not apply in respect of a school providing education for boarding pupils only.

Provision of general information about secondary schools to the Secretary of State

10.  The governing body of every maintained secondary school, (except a middle deemed secondary school) and the proprietor of every independent and non-maintained special school with pupils aged 15 shall, within two weeks of receiving a written request from the Secretary of State, provide him with the general information about the school for the reporting school year referred to in Schedule 5.

Provision of general information about primary schools to the Secretary of State

11.  The governing body of every county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary or middle deemed secondary school shall, within two weeks of receiving a written request from the Secretary of State, provide him with the general information about the school for the reporting school year referred to in Schedule 6.

PART IV PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION

Publication of performance information about primary schools by local education authorities

12.—(1) Each authority shall publish the information about schools in its area referred to in paragraphs (2) and (3), together with the supplementary information referred to in paragraph (4), in the form and manner referred to, respectively, in paragraphs (5) and (6).

(2) The information to be published is information for the reporting school year provided to the Secretary of State under these Regulations consisting of, in respect of each county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary or middle deemed secondary school (existing after 1st January 1999) in the area of the authority which has registered pupils at or near the end of the final year of the second key stage, the following—

(a) the number of registered pupils at or near the end of the final year of the second key stage; and

(b) in the case of each such school which has eleven or more registered pupils at or near the end of the final year of the second key stage—

(i) the percentage of such pupils who, in respect of each core subject, achieved level 4 or above of the National Curriculum level scale as determined by NC tests and by teacher assessment;

(ii) the percentage of such pupils who, in respect of each core subject, failed to achieve a level on the National Curriculum level scale because they were exempted from an NC test under section 364 or 365 of the 1996 Act or were absent on the day that the test was administered; and

(iii) the percentage of such pupils who, in respect of each core subject, failed to achieve a level on the National Curriculum level scale because they were exempted from teacher assessment under section 364 or 365 of the 1996 Act or there is no teacher assessment result available because of their absence.

(3) The information to be published is the information for the reporting school year referred to in Schedule 6 and provided to the Secretary of State under these Regulations by the governing body of every county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary or middle deemed secondary school.

(4) The supplementary information to be published consists of the following—

(a) information calculated by the Secretary of State giving the average percentage of pupils at or near the end of the final year of the second key stage in the reporting school year at, respectively,—

(i) all maintained schools providing primary education in the area of the authority, and

(ii) all maintained schools providing primary education in England

who, in respect of each core subject, achieved level 4 or above of the National Curriculum level scale as determined by the results of NC tests and by teacher assessment;

(b) whether, in respect of each county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary or middle deemed secondary school in the area of the authority—

(i) the school is the holder of a Charter Mark awarded by the Citizen’s Charter Unit(10);

(ii) no information, or only some information, under paragraph (2) is published pursuant to paragraph (1) for the school because the governing body of the school failed to provide the information concerned to the Secretary of State;

(iii) no information under paragraph (2) is published pursuant to paragraph (1) for the school because the governing body of the school were unable to provide the information to the Secretary of State for reasons beyond their control;

(iv) no information under paragraph (2) is published pursuant to paragraph (1) for the school because the school had 10 or fewer registered pupils at or near the end of the final year of the second key stage in the reporting school year;

(v) the governing body of the school failed to confirm to the Secretary of State that they have checked the information referred to in paragraph (2); or

(vi) the governing body of the school failed to confirm to the Secretary of State that they have checked the information referred to in Schedule 6.

(5) The information referred to in paragraphs (2) to (4) shall be published in the form specified in Schedule 7, or a form to like effect, provided that the information referred to in paragraph (4)(a) shall be included on every printed page so published.

(6) (a) The information referred to in paragraphs (2) to (4) shall be published in the following manner; and

(b) The information shall be published without charge before 24th January in each year by—

(i) providing three copies of a document and a computer disk containing the information to the Secretary of State;

(ii) providing copies of the document containing the information to the governing body of every maintained school and the proprietor of every CTC in the area of the authority;

(iii) providing a copy of the document containing the information to any person providing nursery education, other than at a school, in the area of the authority;

(iv) making available copies of the document containing the information at each public library in the area of the authority; and

(v) making available copies of the document or a computer disk containing the information to the editor of any newspaper circulating in the area of the authority who requests such copies or disk.

Tessa Blackstone

Minister of State,

Department for Education and Employment

6th August 1998